


Valentines in March

by nobutsiriuslywhat



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Found Family, Socrates - Freeform, it's not even valentines day, puns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 07:05:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18089690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nobutsiriuslywhat/pseuds/nobutsiriuslywhat
Summary: Darcy gets a Valentine's Day card...in March.





	Valentines in March

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rosiedeplume](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosiedeplume/gifts).



> The inspiration for this came about because, as I opened another book to read for class, this exact piece of paper fell out. I bought the book used so I have no idea where it came from. But, thus, a fic was born.

The briefing was long and tiring. All she wanted was an eight hour nap and to poke Fury in his good eye for making her sit on the previous nights' Op and then have her sit in on the after mission briefing to take notes that she goddamn knew no one was going to read. She did understand that this was training to see how well she could handle moving up from Official Lab Goddess, and Kick Ass Personal Assistant to the Goddess Pepper Potts. 

To be fair, this wasn't her first time sitting in on an active Op or a briefing, but that didn't mean it was no less mentally taxing (and exhaustive). They did have her start off in training simulations as the team ran through various scenarios to see what she would catch and if she had orders for what needed to be done. 

She would give those suggestions to the person running the sim and slowly she was the one giving the orders herself. During that first one she nearly had a panic attack even though it wasn't an active mission. She did survive it (ish), so she gave herself a tiny pat on the back. The panic lessened a bit after that, but there might have been an adrenaline crash. Lord, she could only imagine her first Real Mission. She'd probably pass out.

Fortunately, this mission didn't require the full team, so the number of folders handed back to her were only five. Unfortunately, it included the ones who seemed to take their mission reports seriously and had a lot of details to go through. Too bad Clint wasn't in on this one because she liked reading his. Sometimes there were little comics that made her laugh or notes that had absolutely nothing to do with anything except Lucky. She loved the Lucky Reports, as she called them. But since he was finally taking the family on a much promised vacation, she really couldn't be mad.

After putting the folders in a neat stack, she held them upright and tapped them on the table to get everything to sit nice and neatly when she put them in her arms. She had only walked a few feet when she realized something fell to the floor. Swiftly kneeling (while balancing the folders, her coffee, and her laptop and not dropping a thing thankyouverymuch), she picked up the small piece of paper and slipped it in the top folder to look at later. 

As she walked back to her office (she had an office!) she kept reminding herself that this new position would be great for her. It would give her more responsibility and she was enjoying the trust the team was giving her so far when it came to her Ops training. That's not to say that the Team and Co. didn't like her anyway, and they all got along as any dysfunctional found family can. The longer she lived in Avengers Tower, the more she got to know and love each of them. 

There also may or may not have been an incident or two where they needed to, uh, come and get her. From very not nice people. From villains. Okay, there were a few times she was kidnapped. Look, there's only so much her taser can get her out of.

There was Wanda with her kid-like enthusiasm for new things which mostly consisted of cooking and baking, something for which Darcy was more than happy to teach her about. Natasha and her scary obsession of cleaning her nails with one of her knives and then throwing it at Clint when he said something without thinking. But, she brought Darcy delicious Russian delicacies, so she wasn't one to argue. 

Thor was the big (she also meant that literally) brother she never had. Plus, calling down the lightning was awesome to see. Tony was a whole category unto himself (yes, she was quoting verbatim) but he was also the most generous person she had ever met ("If you ever tell anyone that, Lewis, I'll deny it and program your ringtone to be The Thong Song.") Steve and his ass of freedom was always a sight to behold and it didn't help that he was such a great guy (even if he did get into way too much detail in his mission reports). He was even teaching her how to draw. It wasn't going well, but he was too nice to say something. Plus, he was also one of the biggest trolls she'd ever met. The only one who outmatched him was Bucky.

Bucky. Fuck. Don't even get her started. When he came to the Tower two years ago he was definitely a shell of who he had been, of who Steve said he was. It was unfair to expect him to be the Bucky of past decades. Too much had happened. 

He started to get help and to be integrated, slowly, into their group. It took a while, but soon he was interacting on his own, not using Steve as his shield. He started coming to family dinners and movie nights. He even started coming to her with questions about current and past events, from when he was frozen, from when his mind wasn't his own. Darcy was more than happy to go through it with him, making sure to stay away from things that the Winter Soldier may have had a hand, or gun, in. 

It also did not help that that man had a jawline that could cut steel, eyes that cut right to her soul, and knives that could, did, cut down those would-be-kidnappers. And dear god, and Thor, and coffee, when she saw that, she should not have been turned on. Yet here she was lusting after a man who could have anyone and, man, it was hard to try to keep those emotions at bay. Did he have to be so damn charming and helpful while looking like that?

Rude. 

He was also extremely helpful. Her very first attempt at pointing things out and calling things out to the simulation’s operator was awful (there were so many moving parts and pieces and weapons oh my god the weapons and she didn't want anyone to get hurt even though she knew they wouldn't, it was stressful, okay?). She hung her head for the rest of the day and sad-baked her way into batches of cookies.

When Pepper first told her that they were going to start training replacements for Jane and Pepper's assistants, she distinctly remembered the feeling of ice water flowing through her veins because all she could think about was that they were about to fire her. In the span of forever (probably thirty seconds) she went through all the things that would happen, because no job meant no paycheck and no paycheck meant not being able to afford to live anywhere. They certainly weren't going to let her just freeload off them. Tony was great and generous, but she imagined that didn't apply to an unemployed and soon-to-be homeless assistant. 

The panic must have shown on her face because Pepper kindly explained what she would be training for. Now, though, she had proven she couldn't do it and she surely was going to be fired. She should start looking at the wanted ads immediately.

Bucky had come into the kitchen, no doubt smelling the cookies from, like, five floors down and saw her at the counter, her head in her arms. She had sighed and said, "Ignore the girl on the counter, the cookies are over there," to which she had pointed vaguely in the direction of the plates of them. 

He had asked her what happened, and she told him (and the counter) as she tried not to sniffle her way through it. She really thought she could do it! Darcy heard the chair next to her squeak as his heavy bulk sat at the counter next to her. She told herself that it was decidedly not the time to think about his body...and muscles...and his stupid face Then she felt his metal hand lightly touch her on the back of her neck. He hadn't so much as held it, but the heavy weight on it felt amazing. 

That's when he offered, quietly, to teach her. To teach her the skills she would need to be their lookout, because of course they couldn't throw her in the deep end and expect her to swim. 

And he had. He was patient when he needed to be, but firm when the situation called for it. When he was running her through mental (and physical, damn it) exercises. 

But that was then. Now, she had files to go through.

It was going to take a while to go through the stack of reports so there was no point in waiting. Eventually someone would come looking for them and she didn't really want someone breathing down her neck about it when "jesus Jane don't plug that in there oh my god" and "yes, Pepper, I'll get that requisition signed by the guy that's been ignoring me for weeks and hand it off to the right department to get that thingy."

Opening the top one, she saw the slip of paper she had stuck in there. It was what looked like handmade Valentines card. It said, "Quit Socra-teasing me and be my Valentine. Happy Valentine’s Day. Love, Socrates."

Darcy looked at the calendar and it was most definitely not February. Was Valentines in March a thing? Darcy couldn't help but smile as she thought about it.

Someone had clearly made it because it wasn't on the card stock that gets sold with the multipack of Valentine's cards. Even so, she was pretty sure they didn't come in philosopher packs. She huffed when she realized there was nothing written on it. No message and it wasn't even signed. She wracked her brain trying to think of who even knew she liked reading about the original philosophers? It was a specific hobby, really. 

Was it stupid that this thing made her day?

"Hey, doll, whatcha lookin' at?" came a very distinctive voice from her doorway.

When she looked up, sure enough there was Bucky Barnes, leaning against her doorway in a goddamn leather jacket.

Rudest. 

"It's, um..." she paused, how was she going to explain a Socratic Valentine’s Day card? "A card? For me?" Really, she didn't mean for that to sound so questioning.

"Really." He propped a hip against the door frame and crossed his arms.

Her mouth went dry as she tried not to stare at the biceps she could actually see straining through the leather. "It was...I found it after the debriefing." Don't think about the man debriefing. "I think it's for me."

Bucky smirked and took a few steps forward, stopping to look down at her, and hand to Thor she swore his eyes were smoldering. "That's because it was."

Blinking, all she could think to say was, "But it's not Valentine's Day."

He shrugged, and the leather creaked. "No, it's not, but I saw that and thought of you. And you have that Pun A Day calendar on your desk. Plus, today is something else, isn't it, doll?"

For the fucking life of her, she couldn't think of what it was. All she wanted to do was feel him up in and out of that leather jacket, and run her fingers through his hair, and he's talking, she should be listening. She licked her lips and looked at his face and his lips and...

She cleared her throat and saw the knowing look on his face. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

His smirk grew into an almost boyish smile. "I've been tryin' to ask you out for a while and, well, I was askin' ya if you wanted to go get dinner with me on account of it being your birthday an all."

Shit, it was her birthday! Shut up, he's a very distracting man. 

Then.

OHMYGOD DID HE JUST ASK ME OUT?

Bucky laughed. "Yes, I asked you out on a date. Whaddya say?"

She couldn't even be embarrassed as she answered with a yes.


End file.
